Colloidal Aqueous Dispersions of Methyl (meth)Acrylate-Grafted Polyvinyl Alcohol Designed for Thin Film Applications
, Sijka Ivanova 1, Daniela Karashanova 2, Tsvetanka Babeva 2,* and Darinka Christova 1,*
Mehrez E. El-Nagar
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript can be accepted after considering the following items:
- In this manuscript, the authors prepared colloidal aqueous dispersions of methyl (meth) acrylate-grafted polyvinyl alcohol in the nanoform. Thus, the title should be rewritten to contain the word (nanocomposite).
- The authors should clarify the mechanism for the preparation of the colloidal solution in the nanoform.
- SEM-EDX should be performed to outline the morphological feature and the elemental analysis as well.
- Conclusion is too long, make it short, focus on hypothesis justification and/or future research recommendation.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
thank you for your positive assessment of our manuscript and for fruitful comments. As follows are our answers:
“In this manuscript, the authors prepared colloidal aqueous dispersions of methyl (meth) acrylate-grafted polyvinyl alcohol in the nanoform. Thus, the title should be rewritten to contain the word (nanocomposite).”
Answer: Actually, the term “colloidal aqueous dispersions” itself has the meaning of nano-objects. According to the IUPAC Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature (IUPAC Recommendations 2008 (the “Purple Book”). Edited by R. G. Jones, J. Kahovec, R. Stepto, E. S. Wilks, M. Hess, T. Kitayama, W. V. Metanomski, RSC Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008), colloidal polymer dispersions are defined as “particles dispersed in a medium having at least one dimension between approximately 1 nm and 1 μm”.
In the title we emphasize on the colloidal nature of the obtained copolymer dispersions which suppose specific properties and many attractive applications, as pointed out in the introduction.
“The authors should clarify the mechanism for the preparation of the colloidal solution in the nanoform”.
Answer: Colloidal particles of PVA-g-MA were obtained via copolymer synthesis when grafting MA on PVA in aqueous solution at well specified reaction conditions as described in section 2.2. Synthesis of copolymer aqueous dispersions. During copolymerization reaction water-soluble PVA chains were converted to water-insoluble graft macromolecules self-assembled in particulate nanostructures due to the aqueous media. As a result of copolymerization, colloidal aqueous dispersions are obtained in situ and used without additional treatment such as isolation and re-dissolution.
In situ preparation of colloidal copolymer aqueous dispersions is emphasized in the abstract as well as in section 2.2. Synthesis of copolymer aqueous dispersions of the revised manuscript.
“SEM-EDX should be performed to outline the morphological feature and the elemental analysis as well”.
Answer: In order to study the morphological feature of our polymer colloids we prefer TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) instead of SEM because the sample preparation technique utilized for TEM allows to preserve the shape of the particles and to avoid their overlapping. Unfortunately this is not possible during sample preparation for SEM. According to EDX analysis, we have some doubts that it will give us additional useful information. We would like to stress reviewer’s attention on the fact, that we have already performed FTIR and NMR that give us the copolymer composition which in our opinion is more informative (and important) as compared to elemental analysis by EDX.
“Conclusion is too long, make it short, focus on hypothesis justification and/or future research recommendation”.
Answer: We appreciate the reviewer recommendations about the conclusion. In the revised version of the manuscript we have rewritten the conclusion and substantially shorten it.
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper entitled “Colloidal aqueous dispersions of methyl (meth)acrylate-grafted polyvinyl alcohol designed for thin film applications” is quite an interesting one. The systems are well developed and tested (in this case for acetone detection). The experimental part is well presented, and the discussion is well done.
However, there are some corrections to be done:
Line 12: In the Abstracts, there are some grammatical issues. Please, correct it. An example it on Line 16: Furrier-transformed infrared spectroscopy may be written as “Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy”. The English may be revised.
Line 25: Introduction. In my point of view, the 3 first sentences are not properly related. Pay attention to the text, to make it easier to understand.
Line 122: 2.3.3 Dynamic light scattering measurements (the word measurements is not necessary). The authors may show here how they obtained the Dispersity listed in tables 1 and 2.
Line 131: h is the viscosity (what viscosity? Solution or solvent viscosity?)
Line 237: Figure 3. FTIR spectra of (a) CP1; and (b) CP5 as compared to original PVA (c). In this case, the spectra in the Figure are not ordered according to the legend. Pay attention to these details
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, thank you for your positive assessment of our manuscript and for fruitful comments. As follows are our answers:
Line 12: In the Abstracts, there are some grammatical issues. Please, correct it. An example it on Line 16: Furrier-transformed infrared spectroscopy may be written as “Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy”. The English may be revised.
Answer: We would like to thank the reviewer for spotting the mistake in the first sentence of the abstract. It is corrected in the revised version of the manuscript. Also we would like to thank the reviewer for spotting the misspelling of “Fourier” in the abstract. It is corrected in the revised version of the manuscript. Furthermore we would like to assure the reviewer that the manuscript underwent a thorough language editing.
Line 25: Introduction. In my point of view, the 3 first sentences are not properly related. Pay attention to the text, to make it easier to understand.
Answer: We apologies, we cannot agree with the reviewer. The first three sentences of the introduction concern the growing interest in polymer colloids and their emerging applications in different areas. This is closely related to the colloidal aqueous dispersions of methyl (meth)acrylate-grafted polyvinyl alcohol and their application as thin films that are the main topics of our study presented in the manuscript under review. We think that the introductory sentences are appropriate and should not be removed.
Line 122: 2.3.3 Dynamic light scattering measurements (the word measurements is not necessary). The authors may show here how they obtained the Dispersity listed in tables 1 and 2.
Answer: We appreciate the reviewer’s comment and remove the word “measurements” in the title of section 2.3.3. According to the dispersity of the measured particle size, it is well known that dispersity (also still called polydispersity) describes the width of the particle size distribution. Dispersity (DI) is equal to the square of standard deviation of the size (STD) divided by the mean particle diameter (DH):
DI=(STD/DH)2
When DI is less than 0.1 the particle size distribution is monodisperse, while for DI values higher than 0.1 a polydisperse particle size implies.
The text is revised accordingly.
Line 131: h is the viscosity (what viscosity? Solution or solvent viscosity?)
Answer: In equation 1 h is the viscosity of the solution. Because for the measurements we use very diluted solutions, actually this is the viscosity of the solvent – water in our case.
The text is revised accordingly.
Line 237: Figure 3. FTIR spectra of (a) CP1; and (b) CP5 as compared to original PVA (c). In this case, the spectra in the Figure are not ordered according to the legend. Pay attention to these details
Answer: We appreciate the reviewer’s comment and Figure 3 is revised accordingly.
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authors, it is very interesting manuscript with high scientific soundness and quality of presentation. I suggest that this manuscript can be accepted in present form.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
thank you very much for the positive assessment.
